Photos on and around JKs Rough String Ranch in the high desert, Great Basin area of SE Oregon ~ Horses, cattle, dogs, ranching, farming, buckaroos…rural America in the West…the life we love

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This is one of the juvenile Great Horned owls having a morning grooming session. The family of four live in the trees in our yard. Soon the two owlets will fly off to begin their life on their own. The parents will stay…they’ve been here since we moved to the ranch 10 years ago.

I made a big effort for today’s photo challenge…I got the ladder out of the shop to get up on the roof…feels like I’m cheating! But, I do love having these two living in our yard. This is papa Great Horned owl.

The owls were NOT cooperating for me today; they wouldn’t look at me no matter how much noise I made…they were getting their last bit of shut eye before the sun went down…and their night began! And I ran out of daylight. This is our resident pair that live in the trees in our yard.

My ideas for today’s concept were green and/or brown…and I know that I couldn’t have done any better on my own…this beautiful buck presented himself right in front of the house in the alfalfa field…him and his little herd of seven does. What a nice surprise! I just slid open the patio door…still in my jammies!

When we moved here over eight years ago, we inherited a nesting pair of Great Horned owls. They live here year-around in the five Chinese elm trees that circle our house and raise a family every year. This year’s owlets have already left for life on their own…so it’s just mamma and papa until next spring when they will make their nest in the hole in the rim rock next to the house…as they do every year. This is papa owl; the smaller of the two.

Birds do the most stupid things sometimes…but then, they just don’t understand us humans!

A few days ago I spied a couple of house sparrows hanging around one of the horse trailers. Yesterday I took the trailer to work Colt on some buffalo and spied the sparrows again. Low and behold their beautiful nest…built up under the gooseneck of the trailer.

I had to remove the nest…and was glad that there weren’t any eggs or chicks in it yet. Can you just imagine driving away with their chicks in the nest?!?

I feel bad…they had done such a beautiful job of shaping lots of horse hair, twigs, moss and even some bailing twine (the blue) into a very comfy nest. Ahhhh…they’re starting all over again somewhere else because I haven’t seen them back at the horse trailer!

Spring is really making us feel its presence…but there WILL be snow storms before spring is through!! Today was a balmy 52 degrees without any wind…just a beautiful day…seems that March has come in like a lamb…we’ll see what else it has to offer us as the days go by.

I’ve got two photos again today…I just couldn’t make up my mind…and I reserve the right to do whatever I want!

Two days ago, my daily photo was of our first newborn calf…soppin’ wet and dirty. Well, momma cow Ellie Mae got her all cleaned up and presentable. We’re dubbin’ her as “Early Girl” since she was 3 weeks early…not sure what the deal is on that…but she’s healthy and full of vigor so that’s what counts!

Here she is in all her pretty red and white fur; and she’s sporting her new ear tag we put on her today. This year’s calves are the first for their sire “Herfy” (a Hereford bull), and the first for us to have any white markings on the calves…let alone be red and not black! Early Girl has what is termed as a “brockle” face with her splotched face markings.

My second photo is staying with the House Sparrow theme…they seem to be thinking it’s nesting time obviously…

The huge herd of antelope have been in the neighbor’s alfalfa field quite regularly lately (about 50 head of them)…much to our neighbor’s dislike.

Right now they’re just eating the old brown stalks from last year, but when the alfalfa comes out of dormancy, they’ll be feasting on the new, green shoots which are grown to feed cattle…it tends to be a problem.

I was pleased that they were close to the road as I drove home from my day at the Post Office, and I was able to get off a few clicks with the camera before they scattered. This is the best shot I’ve ever gotten of an antelope…they’re pretty spooky around people. I got this through the passenger side window as I sat in the driver’s seat.

It’s interesting that this is the first year that a herd of antelope have been in our area. They usually have been north of us where larger areas of alfalfa are grown. But, the neighbor put in a new field of alfalfa of about 120 acres, and he’s putting in another one this spring. I believe that’s the attraction.